Multi million savings pushes firm to consider additional support centre

Clifford Chance is considering establishing another legal support centre after it saved millions last financial year because of its efficiency drive.

The magic circle firm’s efficiency program which incorporates the use of technology, project managers and its support centre in India resulted in £7 million (about $11.62 million) in savings last year, a report from Legal Week said.

The centre would be in addition to the India support centre that was established in 2007 and will aid in completing non-English-speaking work if established, the publication noted.

London managing partner David Bickerton, who is working with global innovation head Bas Boris Visser on the firm’s continuous improvement team, revealed that the location of the additional support centre would be determined by what languages it will service.

“The language of our centres in India is English. CC is a multilingual organisation so there’s always the possibility we might need support in another language such as French, Spanish, German, possibly Mandarin. That’s always on the agenda. We are constantly looking at ways to drive down costs,” Bickerton said.

The firm’s continuous improvement team was established in 2013 and has grown from three external experts brought in to help lawyers identify workflow inefficiencies to a 10-member team.

The team oversees the firm’s efficiency drive which uses the current legal support centre, project managers, artificial intelligence, a partnership with Thomson Reuters and the client contract drafting app CC Dr@ft which was developed in-house.